FALLOW DEER 157 



three are sometimes born, this may have happened, 

 but my friends, who have had long experience 

 with Deer, have never seen it, although some of 

 them have had charge of Deer for twenty-five 

 years and been killing from twenty to seventy 

 does each year. The does are killed usually 

 about two months after the rutting is over, there- 

 fore there is always an opportunity of knowing if 

 a doe was likely to become the mother of more 

 than one fawn. The father and grandfather of 

 Mr. Bamford, too, had charge of a big herd for 

 nearly one hundred years, and never knew more 

 than one at a birth. I have spoken to many old 

 park-keepers on this interesting subject, but never 

 could find one who could tell me he had actually 

 seen it, although one or two keepers of consider- 

 able experience have told me they believed it had 

 happened. This may have been because they 

 saw two fawns sucking one doe, an unusual occur- 

 rence, but still I have seen this and each time was 

 able to find out that they were the fawns of two 

 does. 



Fawns are born about the first and second 

 weeks of June. I have known of one as early as 

 May 25, and one as late as October 20, but both 

 these dates may be taken as extremes. They are 

 on their feet and quite active a few hours after 

 birth. When a doe is about to give birth to a 

 fawn she leaves the herd and selects a quiet spot, 



